Analysis Of Bulletproof Concepts

Hats off to Dave Asprey who is has probably been the most influential bio-Hacker I have learned from! I have followed a ton of his advice and after a few years on this journey, my verdict is in. It is mostly positive and I do appreciate that no one's advice will work for everyone keep that in mind when looking at the constructive criticism. Anyway, here is my personal experience on his suggestions.

Diet

High Fat diet for weight loss - This is a winner, I lost twenty pounds eating tons of butter and MCT oil. I was not in Ketosis eating around 50 - 75 grams of carbs a day. Caveat - At this point I was NOT working out. I think one of the reasons this works is you actually do end up eating less calories, even stuffing your face with as much butter as you can handle.

High Fat diet for athletic performance - Epic Fail!! I was weak and tired on this approach. Too be fair, I did not try Ketosis and I only tried this for about six months. Apparently, Ben Greenfield said it took him two years to be become athletically fat adapted. But let's be honest, if six months does not work to start getting adapted than maybe it is not realistic (at least for me).

Gluten - He helped motivate me to stay Gluten free. I have not touched the stuff in years and it no longer even tempts me. Screw you Gluten!

Alcohol - I also want to point out that for some reason alcohol (even distilled Vodka) absolutely wrecked me (hang over wise) on a low carb diet. Not that I really care about Alcohol but I want others to know about this â€œside effectâ€

Supplements / Food

Whey and Collagen supplements - Winner! For years I had given up on Whey supplements because they causes digestive distress. Dave opened this door back up to me.

Vitamins - Thanks to Dave I learned about MTHFR and Folic Acid. I got tested and do have the â€œmutationâ€. I had used Carlton Nutriance but when tested for minerals by a Functional Medicine doctor was deficient in Zinc. Selenium etc (probably because there is only 100% FDA for everything) I moved to EXOS and am noticing the difference

Unfair Advantage - EPIC WIN! At least so far anyway. I think it gives me the equivalent to 30 - 45 minutes of sleep a night. That is hard to beat.

Ciltep - Wellâ€¦. I can focus more on it, but then my jaw is tight all day. I might use it in Jam, but to much biological cost

Coffee - Great stuff. Opened my mind to healthy coffee and I think he is onto something with Fungus in coffee. I can tell the difference now

Myers Cocktail - After listening to a podcast I tried it three times. To my surprise, the cold I had at the time did not seem to get better and I did notice a difference. Very unscientific feedback I know, take that comment for what it's worth

HCL - I have been taking HCL for years, itâ€™s nice to hear Dave letting people know about. Without HCL I have debilitating heartburn. With it (in the absence of Gluten) I am mostly fine.

Activated Charcoal - Definitely helps when eating out

Exercise

Weight Lifting -- Epic fail!! I tried Body by Science and it was a disaster. First off, the DOMS is crazy if you go nuts once a week, and only once a week. I was never able to adapt. I am now doing weight lifting four times a week (and sprinting one day) and finally seeing results (I have gained close to 15 pounds of muscle). Double Epic fail for not at least warning people that trying to work out without upping your carbs if very dangerous. Maybe low carb does work for some during exercise, but it is hardly an easy goal to meet. I was dizzy many times during weight lifting with limited energy. I am now following Jason Millerâ€™s advice and am up to 350 grams of Carbs on workout days.

Dave probably knows that you canâ€™t work out with any volume without carbs. Hence, his pushing of the psycho half hour workouts (like ArchFit) that will leave you sore for 5 days and under the illusion that you are actually hacking exercise properly

His book also mentions Pavel Tsatsouline a good weight lifting mentor. Why??? I bought three of Pavels products and was disappointed each time. He does not even look like he weight lifts and just seems to be the guy who can do Turkish Getups and swings in good form. Its seems to me that Jason Ferruggia and Dan John have a lot of value in their suggestions. Joe Defranco is a good honorable mention as well.

Mobility -- I am glad he mentioned Kelly Starrett. I like his products, but find that Somasystems products to be even better. I use Soma most of the time. And every once in a while I use Jill Millers stuff if I want to work on a Joint (as opposed to the muscle) it feels so empowering to be able to fix most of your own injuries!

Misc

Message Board - Some things that I have used from the message board ;TRE (which from what I can tell gets the relaxation and stress release of weightlifting without really working out) John Brissonâ€™s Magnesium Thread (using Magnesium Citrate specifically has really helped with digestion, if you know what I mean And Jason Millerâ€™s Carb thread is awesome. I also used John recommendations from â€œFix your Gutâ€ Although I do also use some of Daveâ€™s suggested probiotics as well. A mix of Garden of Life and Jarrowâ€™s is the right formula for me. I do two of them so that one â€œgood bacteriaâ€ does not become optimistic.

Podcasts / Guests - What great information! I have learned so much and been introduced to other great minds (i.e. Chris Kresser and Tim Ferriss)

Cold Thermogenesis / Face Dip - I am not committed enough to take an Ice Bath. To my surprise Daveâ€™s suggestion of just dipping the face in ice before bed does work. Inflammation does go down after 2 -3 day of doing this. What a great hack

Sleep Induction Matt- Small price to pay to try it out. It does work as after about 20 minutes you will feel relaxed. I would just rather mediate though than go through the pain

Sleep - I love Sleep Cycle. I also agree that people can succeed on less than 8 hours sleep, In fact for me 6:30 - 7 is my sweet spot but I not buying the less than 6, maybe there is a genetic component

Brain / Breathing

Heartmath - Life changing! This gadget broke on my three times, despite how fragile they are I love it!! It taught me how to breath. Now I use what I have learned (did not replace the last one) and just do guided meditations with the Headspace app

Neuroptimal - I saw a practitioner about 12 times and noticed my results go up based on the reports the software gives back to you. This is the real deal. I will buy a unit one of these days. Too bad Dave does not sell them anymore

New Edit -

HolySync and Meditation - I now have some feedback on Holysync. Their free sample definitely works! However, it looks like it is overpriced compared to this option from transparentcorp. I spent about 60 dollars on Transparent and now I will own these mp3s for the rest of my life. I spend about 10 minutes listening to their Mp3s and then do a 20 minute meditation with Headspace App! I love it.

Comments

I'm looking into Wim Hof's breathing techniques because he talks about raising the PH level of our blood. Every technique I've come across preaches against shallow breathing; that seems to be the common denominator.

yeah i agree with most of your points there. regarding the fat loss thing, i actually just commented on dave's facebook post showing off the new cookbook...cause he mentions (again) how you can "lose up to a pound a day!". i think it's pretty well established on the forums here that nobody can or wants to lose a pound of FAT a day, unless MAYBE if they are morbidly obese. dude is basically cashing in on the hype that people experience when they lose a bunch of water and glycogen, which i think is a little lame. its annoying because i like to give credit to dave and the bulletproof team for what i've learned, but i always have to give a disclaimer about the BS that he just throws in everyone's face. even the name "Bulletproof" is a pretty big embarrassment i think.

i also credit the bulletproof stuff for motivating me to kick gluten. i've always been alcohol-free, but that decision has just been reaffirmed even more with the BP stuff. i also appreciate the coffee and the unfair advantage, which definitely helps with the weight lifting. but yeah, the BBS approach i think is kind of ridiculous but a nice way to seduce anti-gym-goers like myself into dabbling in weight-lifting. ("only 15 min. a day? sure i'll try it!").

Good post, and accurate as far as my experience goes. I had a late night last night, but took some Unfair Advantage and basically saved my Monday. I don't always notice it when I take it, but I do notice I can get by on less sleep.

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Cold Thermogenesis / Face Dip - I am not committed enough to take an Ice Bath. To my surprise Daveâ€™s suggestion of just dipping the face in ice before bed does work. Inflammation does go down after 2 -3 day of doing this. What a great hack

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Heartmath - Life changing! This gadget broke on my three times, despite how fragile they are I love it!! It taught me how to breath. Now I use what I have learned (did not replace the last one) and just do guided meditations with the Headspace app

How are you measuring or keeping track of inflammation? I haven't tried the face dip thing, but you've piqued my interest.

Was it the emWave (standalone heartmath thing) that was breaking or the iPhone attachment?

Good post, and accurate as far as my experience goes. I had a late night last night, but took some Unfair Advantage and basically saved my Monday. I don't always notice it when I take it, but I do notice I can get by on less sleep.

How are you measuring or keeping track of inflammation? I haven't tried the face dip thing, but you've piqued my interest.

Was it the emWave (standalone heartmath thing) that was breaking or the iPhone attachment?

Well I would not know how to consistently and quantitatively track my inflammation on a daily basis. It is really just a qualitative measurement of how I feel. With that being said my C-Reactive Protein numbers are already pretty good.

Well I would not know how to consistently and quantitatively track my inflammation on a daily basis. It is really just a qualitative measurement of how I feel. With that being said my C-Reactive Protein numbers are already pretty good.

The HearthMath option I was using is the Iphone attachment

My emwave 2 has held up for 3-and-a-half years and counting.

I have the emwavepro (wish I hadn't purchased it because it cost me $300, but whatever), the emwave2, and the Heartmath Inner balance sensor (iPhone attachment). I like emwave2 to the most.

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said as it basically mirrors my exact experience as well, except for a few of the supplements you have listed which i have never tried, along with neuroptimal (which i'd love to try) and the sleep induction mat. Double agree with the exercise on low carb part. Wrecked me pretty good.

its annoying because i like to give credit to dave and the bulletproof team for what i've learned, but i always have to give a disclaimer about the BS that he just throws in everyone's face. even the name "Bulletproof" is a pretty big embarrassment i think.

Agreed. I appreciate Dave and everything he has brought to my attention but so much of it comes with a hidden paragraph of caveats, which absolutely none are addressed haha. It is important for people to do their own research first, no doubt, but i don't even think this is stated. A list of potential side effects when introducing protocols would iron out everything about bulletproof i think.

"Men are more easily wooed by imagination then by science" - Will Durant

I'm looking into Wim Hof's breathing techniques because he talks about raising the PH level of our blood. Every technique I've come across preaches against shallow breathing; that seems to be the common denominator.

I read Hof's book and heard him on Tim Ferris and Ben Greenfields podcasts. The dude is out there! Then again if you want to swim under frozen lakes and have the ability to supress your immunize system while being injected with poison than you need to be on the edge. I am considering buying his video package but I don't really feel like taking Ice Baths so I have balked.

Good point, Tommy. Losing a pound a day for an obese person is usually possible with the right diet and detox strategies. Bulletproof has a wide audience, and it's not all hardcore biohackers, hence the lack of taglines like: "Upgrade your endogenous glutathione!"

Must be a VERY wide audience, if ya know what i mean. I just think most people that could benefit from this stuff aren't in the extreme of being morbidly obese or "hardcore biohackers". You don't have to jump from a somewhat bogus claim filled with caveats to the most geeky obscure biohacker phrase possible. How about "lower your risk for metabolic diseases" or "decrease inflammation"?

But whatever. I'm sure whoever is doing his marketing has their reasons for what they do.

Must be a VERY wide audience, if ya know what i mean. I just think most people that could benefit from this stuff aren't in the extreme of being morbidly obese or "hardcore biohackers". You don't have to jump from a somewhat bogus claim filled with caveats to the most geeky obscure biohacker phrase possible. How about "lower your risk for metabolic diseases" or "decrease inflammation"?

But whatever. I'm sure whoever is doing his marketing has their reasons for what they do.

Wow, he replied to your post. This elevates you to celebrity status :-)

Neuroptimal - I saw a practitioner about 12 times and noticed my results go up based on the reports the software gives back to you. This is the real deal. I will buy a unit one of these days. Too bad Dave does not sell them anymore